Tag: hermp

Texas Lt. Gov. Touts Poll Result Backing Hemp Crackdown While Ignoring Support For Marijuana Legalization In Same Survey

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) this week emphasized a survey result showing that more than half (55 percent) of Texans want the state to rein its largely unregulated market for hemp-derived THC. At the same time, however, he seemed to ignore the survey’s other findings: that even more Texans want the state to legalize and regulate marijuana for both medical and adult use.

“This is a huge polling number on the issue of banning THC,” Patrick said Tuesday on social media, zeroing in on hemp-derived THC products that are widely available across the state. “Texans see these stores everywhere: in their neighborhoods and especially around schools where children have easy access. People simply don’t want them around.”

“Once the facts are out in the open,” he continued, “there is no doubt these public polling numbers will rise as more Texans demand a ban on these dangerous products.”

Rather than an outright ban on THC, however, the broader results of the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs survey actually show that Texans want regulation of the psychoactive cannabinoid.

The polling found that nearly 4 in 5 (79 percent) support legalizing the sale and use of medical marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation, while more than 3 in 5 (62 percent) support legalizing and regulating an adult-use cannabis market.

Almost 7 in 10 (69 percent), meanwhile, said they think the state should decriminalize marijuana for personal use.

There is bipartisan support in the survey for each of the reforms.

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New Jersey Governor Signs Controversial Bill Restricting Sales Of Hemp Cannabinoid Products

New Jersey businesses are temporarily banned from selling hemp products without a cannabis license under a controversial bill Gov. Phil Murphy (D) signed into law Thursday, a response to years of complaints about legal loopholes that allow minors to buy sketchy hemp products.

The measure will put hemp products, which are federally legal, under the purview of the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission, the agency that oversees New Jersey’s recreational and medicinal marijuana markets.

In a signing statement, Murphy called the bill flawed, but said in the two-and-a-half months since the bill landed on his desk, he’s held discussions with supporters and critics that convinced him it’s “very unlikely that revisions to the bill would have the broad support necessary to move through the Legislature quickly.”

“Unlike many issues, the status quo poses an immediate risk to health and safety, as these unregulated intoxicating hemp products are widely available to minors. Because the bill would address this present danger, I have concluded that the wiser course is to sign the bill now and commit to working with the Legislature to address the technical issues and other challenges in separate legislation,” he said in the statement.

Congress legalized hemp in 2018, but with little regulation, testing or enforcement, intoxicating products have been spotted on shelves of corner stores and gas stations. Lawmakers moved to pass the bill amid concerns that children are buying products advertised with thousands of milligrams of THC.

Hemp products have a lower form of THC than cannabis, and they do not get users high in the same way marijuana products with delta-9 THC (the kind someone would buy at a cannabis dispensary).

Under the new law, it’s illegal to sell products with any detectable amount of THC to a person under 21 years of age. And within 30 days, businesses will have to pull any hemp products off their shelves until the cannabis commission establishes new rules regarding sales.

The bill—amended with last-minute changes—elicited “significant concerns” from the cannabis and hemp industries, Murphy noted. Wording in the bill has created confusion, specifically the definition of hemp product as “any product cultivated, derived, or manufactured in this state from hemp,” Murphy said.

That language could either allow businesses to sell hemp products made outside of New Jersey without violating the law, or limit sales to those products made exclusively in New Jersey, Murphy said, noting the former would largely defeat the purpose of the bill by creating “an enormous loophole,” while the latter could violate the Constitution’s dormant commerce clause.

The bill’s supporters applauded the long-awaited signing.

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